George Quasha

George Quasha is an artist and poet who works across mediums to explore principles in common within language, sculpture, drawing, video, sound, installation, and performance. Solo exhibitions of his axial stones and axial drawings include the Baumgartner Gallery in New York (Chelsea), the Slought Foundation in Philadelphia, and at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz. This work is featured in the recently published book, "Axial Stones: An Art of Precarious Balance", Foreword by Carter Ratcliff (North Atlantic Books: Berkeley, 2006).

For his video installation work “art is: Speaking Portraits (in the performative indicative),” he has recorded over 600 artists, poets, and composers (in 10 countries and 20 languages) saying what in their view art is. The work creates a living portrait of artists such as Arner David, Blanca Fernandez, Larsen Robin, Scalapino Leslie and Baer Alan Quasha's ongoing work (“art is/music is/poetry is”) has been exhibited at the Snite Museum of Art (University of Notre Dame), at White Box in Chelsea, at the Samuel Dorsky Museum (SUNY New Paltz), and in several other countries (including France and India), and has been featured in several biennials (Wroclaw, Poland; Geneva, Switzerland; Kingston, New York). Further extensions of this work in speaking portraiture include “myth is” and “peace is.” His other work in axial video (including “Pulp Friction,” “Axial Objects,” “Verbal Objects,” “Axial Landscapes”) has appeared internationally in museums, galleries, schools, and biennials. A 30-year performance collaboration (video/language/sound) continues with Gary Hill and Charles Stein. In 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in video art. His other 14 books include poetry ("Somapoetics", "Giving the Lily Back Her Hands", "Ainu Dreams" [with Chie Hasegawa] , "Preverbs" [forthcoming] ; anthologies ("America a Prophecy" [with Jerome Rothenberg] , "Open Poetry" [with Ronald Gross] , "An Active Anthology" [with Susan Quasha] , "The Station Hill Blanchot Reader" [with Charles Stein] ); and writing on art ("Gary Hill: Language Willing"; with Charles Stein: "Tall Ships", "HanD HearD/liminal objects", "Viewer"). A new book on Gary Hill is forthcoming from Ediciones Poligrafa (Barcelona), also in collaboration with Charles Stein. Awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry. He has taught at Stony Brook University (SUNY), Bard College, New School University (Graduate Anthropology Department), and Naropa University. With Susan Quasha he is founder/publisher of Barrytown/Station Hill Press in Barrytown, New York. Born on July 14, 1942 in White Plains, New York, he now lives in Barrytown.

elect bibliography

*"America a Prophecy: A New Reading of American Poetry from Pre-Columbian Times to the Present" (with Jerome Rothenberg] , Random House, 1973)
*"Open Poetry" (with Ronald Gross, Simon & Schuster, 1973)
*"Somapoetics" (Sumac Press, 1973)
*"An Active Anthology" (Sumac Press, 1974)
*"Word-Yum" (Metapoetics Press, 1974)
*"Giving the Lily Back Her Hands" (Station Hill Press, 1979)
*"HanD HearD/liminal objects: Gary Hill’s Projective Installations, Number 1" (with Charles Stein, Station Hill Press, 1997)
*"Tall Ships: Gary Hill’s Projective Installations, Number" 2 (with Charles Stein, Station Hill Press, 1997)
*"Viewer: Gary Hill’s Projective Installations, Number 3" (with Charles Stein, Station Hill Press, 1997)
*"Ainu Dreams" (with Chie Hasegawa, Station Hill Press, 1999)
*"The Station Hill Blanchot Reader: Fiction & Literary Essays" (ed. George Quasha, Station Hill Press, 1999)
*"Gary Hill: Language Willing" (further/art and Boise Art Museum, 2002)
*"Axial Stones: An Art of Precarious Balance" (North Atlantic, 2006)

External links

* [http://www.quasha.com George Quasha’s website]
* [http://www.baumgartnergallery.net Baumgartner Gallery website]
* [http://www.stationhill.org/ Barrytown/Station Hill Press website]
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/gquasha43 Video art by George Quasha]